Thanksgiving tables are different this year. For so many Alabama residents the table itself is different. It's not the same table they used in 2010.

It's not the same one they decorated, sat at, laughed around, cleaned off, then played card games on, or spread out the Thanksgiving Day paper to plot their Black Friday course.

That table is gone. Gone with the winds of April 27, 2011.

Although that table may have been special in some way, the new table can be just as meaningful.

It may be missing scratches, knicks or stains that made the previous table a veteran Thanksgiving focal point, but that is okay.

Why? Because the new table has a few guests sitting around it, either literally or in spirit.

The guests around the new Thanksgiving table are the individuals we've met, worked with, thanked, loved, held, comforted, shared our belongings with, rescued, prayed for and today pause to express our undying gratitude for their being there for us.

My children received a Little People Thanksgiving spread about a month ago. It has two pilgrims, two Native Americans and some farm animals.

The table features a turkey. It's too big for the four to eat so my kids 'invited' all of their Little People characters over for a plastic feast.

Who came?

A helicopter pilot.

A airplane pilot.

A bus driver.

A school teacher.

Children.

A fireman.

Since photographing a gathering is a tradition, we of course snapped a picture as the Little People gave thanks.

What I captured was my children's interpretation of how Thanksgiving tables should be.

Full of our friends, those who have helped us, those who love us, those who know the meaning of being thankful even when it seems there's nothing to be thankful for.

So on this Thanksgiving, don't forget just how much Alabama has to be thankful for.

Then after dinner, do what the Little People pilgrims and their guests did -- they watched TV and drove Monster Trucks, according to my children.